Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea said it has rockets
capable of hitting the U.S., in the totalitarian country’s first
response to the U.S. agreeing to let South Korea extend the
range of its ballistic missiles.

The rockets are “within the scope of strike” of American
military bases in Japan and Guam as well as the U.S. mainland,
the state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted an unidentified
National Defense Commission official as saying. North Korea “is
prepared to counter nuclear attack and missile attack of the
U.S., South Korea and all other following forces in kind,”
according to the statement.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime routinely accuses
the U.S. and South Korea of military provocations, saying
earlier this month that American policy brought the peninsula
closer to nuclear war. North Korea fired a long-range rocket
that failed shortly after liftoff in April, further isolating
the regime and costing it a food-aid deal with the U.S.

“North Korea hasn’t yet secured enough technology to
strike the U.S. mainland,” said Yang Moo Jin, a professor at
the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “They’ll use
the agreement for its excuses for additional nuclear tests or
long-range missile tests.”

The South Korean won held its gains after the KCNA report,
and was up 0.2 percent to 1,110.05 at 2:04 p.m. in Seoul. South
Korea’s benchmark Kospi index fell less than 0.1 percent.

Missile Development

“It’s not like the North has developed a new missile, so
investors are not taking it that seriously,” said Im Jeong Jae,
a Seoul-based fund manager at Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset
Management Co., which oversees about $29 billion. The last
launch of North Korea’s long-range Taepodong-2 missile in 2009
also failed.

The North’s arsenal includes Scud, Rodong and Musudan
missiles. The Musudan has a range of more than 3,000 kilometers
(1,860 miles) and can carry a 650-kilogram (1,430-pound)
warhead, according to South Korean estimates. The U.S. mainland
is more than 7,000 kilometers from North Korea.

“All previous North Korean attempts to build missiles that
could reach the U.S. have failed, so their ability so far has
not been confirmed,” Kim said by phone.

The U.S. agreed Oct. 5 to let South Korea extend the range
of its ballistic missiles to 800 kilometers from 300 kilometers
to protect against a possible attack from the North. The accord
allows North Korean military facilities to be targeted, while
limiting the payload to 500 kilograms for missiles traveling as
far as 800 kilometers.

Operational Control

The U.S. military maintains almost 29,000 soldiers in South
Korea and holds wartime operational control of all troops in the
country.

Kim Jong Un became leader of North Korea in December after
the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. He inherited an economy
one-fortieth the size of South Korea that has poured most of its
resources into its 1.2-million strong military. There are more
than 250 long-range artillery installations along the world’s
most fortified border after the 1950-53 Korean War that ended
without a peace treaty.

North Korea’s botched rocket launch in April scrapped a
U.S. agreement to provide the impoverished state with 240,000
tons of food aid, and resulted in increased UN sanctions. Food
insecurity and malnutrition affect about two-thirds of the
country’s 24 million people, Jerome Sauvage, the UN resident
coordinator in the North Korea capital Pyongyang, said in June.